Drones have captured the imagination of fun-loving Southern Californians of all ages, and their utility goes far beyond recreation. They also make money.

Experts say operators are just beginning to scratch the surface of drones’ commercial potential.

In many cases, photography is involved. And it’s easy to see why, said John Goolsby, owner of Riverside-based Godfather Films and a wedding photographer who deploys drones to record dazzling video from dizzying heights.

Of course, Amazon for some time has been exploring the idea of making aerial deliveries of packages that are ordered online. And this fall Google and the Chipotle Mexican restaurant chain are experimenting with burrito delivery to the delight of hungry college students at Virginia Tech.

“I have never seen an industry change as fast as this one,” said Tim Baur, chief pilot for RadFlight, a drone training business in Long Beach.

DRONE VETO

In short order, drones have revolutionized life in the U.S.

And, of course, there have been abuses. Since summer 2015, beginning with an alarming report in the San Bernardino Mountains, there have been numerous instances in which rogue drones have interfered with firefighting helicopters and planes, or nearly missed airliners.

In response, lawmakers have introduced a flurry of drone legislation to rein in abusers.

So far, Gov. Jerry Brown has largely vetoed efforts. On Thursday, for example, he vetoed a bill to mandate geofencing technology that would automatically steer drones away from airports and fire zones.

But Brown did sign a bill by Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado, to grant civil immunity to a first responder who destroys a drone while fighting fires, conducting a search-and-rescue mission or flying an injured person to a hospital.

CROSSING THE LINE

Nationally, the federal government has been under pressure for some time to establish an orderly process for getting permission to fly drones commercially – to make money. And on Aug. 29, the FAA began issuing drone-pilot licenses to commercial operators.

Already, about 14,000 people have applied to take the FAA’s drone pilot exam and more than 5,000 have passed it.

Still, those numbers pale in comparison to the 550,000-plus drone operators who have registered as hobbyists under a system the FAA rolled out nine months ago.

“What’s most interesting is that you have so many registered as hobbyists and so few registered as commercial,” said Harrison Wolf, an aviation safety instructor at USC and drone consultant.

Wolf said he suspects many hobby operators are dabbling in commercial use, as the money-making line is easily crossed, and haven’t sought commercial licenses.

THE WEDGE

That said, some commercial operators have gotten their start by practicing their new aerial hobby.

That was the case with Scott Kressin. He was selling paintball equipment for a living and flying drones on the beach for the fun of it when a lucrative opportunity came knocking.

That was three years ago. Kressin said he was filming surfers at the Wedge surf break in Newport Beach when he was approached by a real estate agent about taking aerial photography of luxury coastal homes.

“That’s how I scored my first gig,” Kressin said.

Now his Drone House Media firm shoots 200 to 250 dream-house properties annually. Most customers are real estate agents. Some are developers.

“We’ve even had architects hire us to gauge a view,” Kressin said. “We’ll take photos at certain heights just so they know how high they need to build, and what view they will achieve.”

DRONE VS. HELICOPTER

In San Bernardino, Walt Ferar also makes a living taking video of real estate.

In his case, the focus is commercial and industrial: shopping centers, office buildings and raw land someone is looking to build on.

Ferar is a helicopter pilot and he does a lot of work in a chopper. Ferar also personally designed and built a drone he calls “Gargoyle,” with which he offers clients a discounted alternative.

“My operating cost on the helicopter is $500 an hour,” he said. “And to fly the drone is essentially nothing. Other than a little bit of maintenance, there is no cost.”

Ferar said many of his jobs entail tracking the progress of construction projects from the air.

TIME TRAVEL

In Riverside, John Goolsby, owner of Godfather Films, deploys DJI Inspire 1 and Phantom 3 drones to produce wedding videos for his clients and, for his efforts, has earned the nickname, “Wedding Godfather.”

“What I really deliver is time travel,” Goolsby said.

He said people typically remember 10 percent of special events such as weddings, and they have no idea what things look like from above.

“They spend a lot of time and money to make sure that the event is memorable,” Goolsby said. “I am the one who makes sure it really is.”

In Murrieta, Skyphotos co-founder Alex Ramirez has used drones to capture memorable events such as city birthday bashes and marathons.

Ramirez said he’s also been hired to take photos of solar panels on rooftops, to provide homeowners documentation so they can claim federal tax credits.

And a documentary generated a job for drone pilot Tim Baur of Long Beach. Baur said a few days ago he returned from Massachusetts after providing a bird’s-eye perspective for a documentary of a meditation center with an ornate pagoda.

IMAGINE THAT

In Los Angeles County, a company has found a drone niche in agriculture. The clients of Westlake Village-based FarmSolutions are farmers throughout California who want to remotely assess the health of their crops.

Firm owner Jon Tull said aerial photos of discolored leaves and fields of slow-growing plants hint of problems. But more than images are required to make a diagnosis. So Tull said his company uses computer software to analyze what the camera lens is seeing.

Dave is a general assignment reporter based in Riverside, writing about a wide variety of topics ranging from drones and El Nino to trains and wildfires. He has worked for five newspapers in four states: Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and California. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Colorado State University in 1981. Loves hiking, tennis, baseball, the beach, the Lakers and golden retrievers. He is from the Denver area.